Articles

Are Physicians Required to Return Overpayments?

Michael Sacopulos, JD

AAOS Now - May 2018

When overpaid, many providers wonder if they need to return the funds. The short answer is yes. An overpayment is money that does not belong to providers and keeping it exposes them to collection and other risks.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ruled that Medicare overpayments must be refunded within 60 days. However, some practices are passive on the issue and many do not have a policy addressing these funds. For example, during a recent discussion with a client, it was discovered the practice had not run the Medicare Credit Balance Report in nearly a year. When they did, they were astounded to learn they owed more than $300,000.

If your practice hasn’t run this report, immediately do so. Consult your practice’s attorney for assistance on how to address any overpayments. Medicare’s rules are specific. To review their fact sheet, visit https://go.cms.gov/1Oy2sK1.

Medicare overpayments can occur for a variety of reasons, such as insufficient documentation, medical necessity errors, duplicate payments, and administrative and processing errors. The look-back period is six years. When your office identifies an overpayment within that period, you must report and return the overpayment within either 60 days after identifying the overpayment or by the due date on any corresponding cost report, whichever is later.